Mermaid Cake

I have always loved the Doll Princess cakes and have done a couple with the fondant dresses. This year, my friend Janet asked me to make a mermaid out of a Doll for her daughter's birthday. I had only one picture to work from and not many icing tips or practice.

I bought a doll pick at a local store, then bought a Barbie outfit to clothe her. The cake was baked in a Pyrex bowl.

Materials:

Pyrex Bowl (medium or large)
1 cake mix and supporting ingredients
2 tubs of ready to use vanilla icing
Food Coloring
Candies or other decorations (optional)

How to:

1. Prepare cake mix as on box.
2. Bake cake mix in the Pyrex bowl (it may take a little longer).
3. Remove cakes from pans and let cool.
4. Dress Doll pick and tie back her hair.
5. Prepare icing colors.
6. On a cake sheet or flat surface place the round bowl (flat side down) in the center of your surface.
7. Ice thin layer of yellow (sand) icing and drizzle some orange and yellow sugar sprinkles on it for texture.
8. With a toothpick draw your idea of the way the mermaid tail would go.
9. Mix blue food color with white icing to create an under mixed "ocean water" effect. Using a spatula, ice the lower part of the island in upward strokes, pulling the spatula away at the top to create a curled over "wave" effect.
10. Take green icing (tail) and make a mound in the drawn tail area.
11. Stick the doll pick into the icing at the top of the island and secure with green tail icing.
12. Using an icing tip, try to make scales on the tail. I started at the fin first with big strokes, then smaller as I moved up. Don't forget to do around the waist.
13. Add sugar candy shapes, jelly fish, sea stars, shells, and sea weed if you wish.